A Sad Farewell to Sweden’s Snowy Owl
Sweden has declared the snowy owl extinct within its borders, the first loss of a bird species in two decades. Conservation groups attribute the disappearance to climate change, which is disrupting the owl’s Arctic habitat. Warmer, wetter winters are destroying the snow tunnels that lemmings — the owl’s main prey — depend on, triggering a collapse in breeding.
No nesting snowy owls have been recorded in Sweden since 2015, prompting the Swedish Species Information Centre to propose the “extinct” classification for its 2025 Red List. Globally, the species remains vulnerable, with an estimated 14,000–28,000 breeding adults and a 30% population decline over the past decade. Although absent from Sweden, snowy owls still survive elsewhere in Scandinavia and could return if lemming populations recover.
